The World’s Best Cheese Has Been Chosen and It Comes from This Country

The world’s best cheese has been named, and it doesn’t come from Italy or France. It’s actually made in Cornwall, in the southwest of England.

The cheese is called Cornish Kern—now officially known as the Supreme Champion of the 2017 World Cheese Awards— and it’s produced by Lynher Dairies. Cornish Kern is a cow’s milk cheese with a dark, wax-like rind. According to Cornwall Live, Lynher Dairies is already an award-winning cheese producer: Its yarg cheese variety—a semi-hard cow's milk cheese that is wrapped in nettles to give it its rind—won Best English Cheese at the International Cheese Awards in 2013.

Cornish cheese is actually well-known for being tasty: A variety called Cornish Blue won the same award in 2010, and the Cornish Kern itself was previously recognized as the Best Modern British Cheese at the British Cheese Awards in 2014.

Lynher Dairies describes the Cornish Kern as “buttery with caramel notes.” Catherine Mead, who worked on the cheese at Lynher, says she used a “Gouda-style recipe,” and “Alpine starter cultures,” according to iNews. The cheese—which has a black rind—is aged for about 16 months, and comes out of the process as a hard, “flaky and almost dry” cheese.

A Blu di Buffala produced by the Italian company Caseficio Quattro Portoni came in second place. Meanwhile, Croatian cheeses won six gold medals at the awards ceremony.

Around 3,000 cheeses from 35 different countries entered the competition, which was judged by 250 experts. Cathy Strange, who serves as Whole Foods cheese buyer, called the Cornish Kern “visually stunning.”

We are all lost for words...we'll find some in a while but in the meantime 'wow' is going to have to do! https://t.co/0w2W5vBejq

In a tweet celebrating the award, the cheese producer wrote that it is “lost for words,” over the win and could only say “wow.”

Next time you’re picking out a cheese plate for a dinner party, don’t forget about the English cheese. The classic cheeses might be French, but right now the best cheese in the world comes from Cornwall, and what better way to celebrate than to try it for yourself.